Theo's got taste for success

It’s just good to be involved in the tournament and it’ll be a great experience for me, with the World Cup hopefully to come.

Theo Walcott

The Arsenal speedster is the star name in Stuart Pearce’s squad at the European Championships in Sweden having ignored the option to take a break.

That decision looked to have backfired when Walcott was dropped to the bench for Thursday’s group match against Spain, following his anonymous display against Finland.

But when he was unleashed after an hour, Walcott’s pace terrified the Spanish and turned the game in England’s favour.

His cross set up James Milner to fire England into the semi-finals with one game to spare.

Walcott, 20, was a controversial selection for the last World Cup squad in 2006, having not even played a first-team game for Arsenal.

But with England’s senior side on the verge of qualifying for next year’s finals in South Africa, Walcott reckons the tournament experience he is gaining in Sweden will be invaluable.

“It’s just good to be involved in the tournament and it’ll be a great experience for me, with the World Cup hopefully to come,” said Walcott.

“I missed it a couple of years ago, so it’s nice to be involved this time and I think we have the potential to win it.

“It’d be great to bring a trophy back to England.”

Eyebrows were raised when he opted to drop down a level to play for the under-21s, despite being a regular in Fabio Capello’s squad.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger called for him to be picked for one side or the other rather than both.

But eight-cap Walcott said: “I spoke to the boss and he’s supported me with everything.

“He just wants me to do well and is thinking with my benefit in mind. As a player, you just want to play football and he understands that, so he’s always been on my side.”

Walcott’s impact against Spain puts him in the frame to start England’s final group match against Germany on Monday. But he is equally excited about his developing right-flank partnership in the senior side with Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson.

The two combined brilliantly against Andorra recently to set up Frank Lampard for a goal in England’s 6-0 Wembley rout.

Walcott said: “When you can’t get the ball wide so much during a game, you can sometimes go inside and create the spaces out wide for your full-back.

“It worked quite well against Andorra – and Glen’s very young as well, so hopefully it’ll be a good little partnership.”

Walcott is keen to impress at club level after missing four months of Arsenal’s season with a dislocated shoulder.

The Gunners reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and qualified for next season’s competition by clinching fourth spot in the Premier League – but didn’t win a trophy.

And Walcott said: “It was an up and down season – you’re never really going to have a perfect one.

“But I’m happy that the injury has gone so that I can concentrate on this tournament and then come back to Arsenal and win things. We had a bad spell mid- season and having so many injuries didn’t help.

“If you take five or six players out of Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea’s teams, they’re going to struggle to get points too.

“The players that came in did very well though – and in the end we got our heads down, took things game by game and got the points to finish fourth very comfortably.”

*THIS is an extract from the full-length Theo Walcott interview, which is in the July issue of the Official Arsenal Magazine on sale now at club shops. To subscribe, call 0845 88 00 445.